Senate Panel Approves Highway Bill Extension
A Senate panel took the first legislative step today to extend the current highway and transit spending law, an effort that would postpone the next full, six-year authorization of the measure until the end of March 2011.
The Environment and Public Works Committee voted 18-1 to extend funding for highways and other programs under the committee's jurisdiction. The bill authorizes a total of roughly $61.5 billion in spending for the next 18 months. The Senate Commerce and Banking committees, which oversee rail and transit provisions, respectively, will likewise need to pass their own extensions.
Oberstar, Mica plan $500B, 6-year reauthorization
The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee wants $500 billion over the next six years for the nation's roads, transit and high-speed rail, according to a blueprint of the bill that committee leadership hopes to pass before the current highway authorization expires at the end of September. Chairman James Oberstar (D-Minn.) was scheduled to outline the proposal this morning at a press conference, but the release was postponed until 2 p.m. today to accommodate a series of House votes.
But a copy of the 17-page proposal shows that Oberstar and ranking member John Mica (R-Fla.) are calling for a $337 billion investment in highway construction, $100 billion for public transit and $50 billion for President Obama's vision of a nationwide high-speed rail system. The remaining $13 billion is for a variety of smaller initiatives.
With Highway Bill on the Distant Horizon, Reformers Eye Climate Measure to Make a Splash
Transportation advocates, environmentalists and like-minded lawmakers see the upcoming highway and transit reauthorization bill as a vehicle to deliver Washington's promise to overhaul the nation's transportation system, complete with a focus on curbing greenhouse gas emissions and reducing fuel consumption.
But with little visible progress on that front, they are looking elsewhere -- particularly the House Democrats' energy and climate change bill -- for more immediate victories to set the stage for reform.
Congress Grapples, Again, With How to Pay for Transportation Projects
It could wind up spending nearly 10 times as much money on transportation projects as the federal stimulus bill, but outside of Washington, where it has prompted a frenzy of politicking, it has attracted less than a 10th of the attention.
That measure, the federal transportation bill, could spend as much as $450 billion on road and transit projects over the next six years, after the current law expires in September. The most contentious question -- how to pay for it all -- took on a new urgency this week when officials announced that the source of most transportation money would run dry this summer for the second year in a row.
Stimulus Spurs Road Projects, Big and Small
Kansas will widen U.S. 69 to remove a bottleneck outside Kansas City, along with a few other expensive projects. Maryland will spend its money in smaller pieces, resurfacing dozens of rutted roads and highways. Colorado will build an interchange on Elk Creek Road in Jefferson County, complete with an underpass for the elk.
There is nothing monumental in President Obama's plan to revive the economy with a coast-to-coast building spree, no historic New Deal public works. The goal of the stimulus plan was to put people to work quickly, and so states across the country have begun to spend nearly $50 billion on thousands of smaller transportation projects that could employ up to 400,000 people, by the administration's estimates.
Panel Approves Transportation Nominee
WASHINGTON — President Obama’s nominee for transportation secretary, Ray LaHood, answered many questions and dodged a few others at his confirmation hearing on Wednesday and was effectively approved by acclamation.
The chairman of the Commerce and Transportation Committee, Senator John D. Rockefeller IV of West Virginia, interrupted the mostly softball questions after nearly two hours to say there was a deadline of 4 p.m. for committee approval of any nominee who was going to get Senate confirmation that day.